InoSakuChou
by Kettricken
Summary: The next Chuunin exam looms on the horizon, but how will Sakura and the other genins fare in hostile Mist territory and without Sasuke, Naruto, or Shikamaru? Manga gap, full cast. incomplete; abandoned- sorry!
1. And life goes on

Ino, Saku, Chou

Akimichi Chouji ran through the forest.

It would perhaps be more accurate to say that Akimichi Chouji barrelled through the forest. Leaves, twigs, small branches broke themselves off in terror at his passing. Dirt churned in his wake. Even going straight ahead, Chouji gave the impression that he was rolling.

Without breaking stride, Chouji clasped his hands together, concentrated—and with a puff of smoke he was rolling, a ball of solid mayhem, knocking down saplings and smashing over boulders rather than turn. The target was on this trajectory; aiming was difficult once the technique was started, more so when he already had momentum to work with. If he could just get that one solid hit—

With a crash, Chouji caromed through the underbrush, across the training ground—and directly past the dummy with the red X. Slowing now, working against momentum, he wheeled, dropped the extra weight, and flopped the last few meters, coming to a final dizzy, supine stop against a tree stump.

"Nice," said Shikamaru, from atop the stump. "Now, a little to the left."

Chouji glared. "You moved the dummy, didn't you."

Shikamaru gave a long-suffering sigh. "Now, what am I supposed to do if even you won't trust me?"

Under his friend's watchful eye, Chouji pulled himself up—panting rather more than he'd have liked to—and walked back to the dummy. He knelt in the trench his jutsu had created, squinting. Shikamaru came up behind him.

"It went crooked again," Chouji said.

Shikamaru handed Chouji a bag of chips; Chouji began to munch, dejectedly. "I don't think it's your technique," Shikamaru said. "I've watched that enough to know when it's correct. But when you're sphere is oblate, you're going to roll crooked." He put his hands back in his pockets. "The trouble is that your double-weight can only expand you so far."

Chouji put a hand to the scar over his ribs; one of the last remaining injuries of his bout with Jiroubu, and no longer really tender, but the weight was slow returning. Even months after the curry pill, his metabolism was easily twice what it had been; the Nara clan's medicine had stopped it from eating his own body to death, but every morsel of food was consumed as soon as it was taken in, filling out his still-depleted chakra reserves.

"Wait until the next one." Shikamaru was looking away, and Chouji frowned, unable to figure out what his friend was talking about at first. "Wait until you're back in condition. You don't have to take the chuunin exam this time. There's plenty of time."

Chouji munched chips to fill the silence. "I promised Ino."

"Ino will understand."

Slowly, Chouji smiled. "Like I'm going to let you order me around any longer than I have to, anyway," he said. "Besides, wasn't there something about me being strong? Super strong? Strongest genin you knew?"

Shikamaru was grinning too, now, trying to keep serious. "Che. You better hurry up and get this vest, then, so you can protect me." His hands sprung up, suddenly, two fingers in the upper hand's fist, and Chouji jumped to the side. The Kage Mane leaped around after him, chasing him toward the edge of the training ground.

"You're going to have to walk forward sometime, lazy!"

"I think it can stretch far enough," Shikamaru said slyly.

"How far is that?"

"Mmm. Far enough for some hard training. How about... barbeque?"

oOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOo

Sakura slammed her hand down on the Hokage's desk.

Since training with Tsunade, that act had gained rather more meaning than it once had; with the force of applied chakra, the desk shook. So did the office, for that matter; and the building. Only Tsunade, herself an adept at the uses of chakra, was unmoved by her apprentice's protest.

"I'm sorry, Sakura, but you know the rules as well as I do! It has to be a three-man team!"

"How can you say that? You were the one who mandated medical ninjas, bringing the number up to four. Well, I'm the closest thing to a medical genin we're going to find, and Lee—you know the way he's apt to push himself. After Sasuke, last time—after what happened to Sasuke—how can I let Lee go in on his own?"

"If Tenten and Neji are insufficient to take care of one stupid, overpowered..." Tsunade bit her lip. Sakura was unmoved, her face as red as her dress. From what little Tsunade had been able to glean, her apprentice had only been on a few dates with the Rock Lee kid—abominable taste, in Tsunade's own opinion, although it had to be considered preferable to her former object of affection—and they had all ended in disaster. It was a common clinicology in a new medical trainee; the desire to take a messed up thing, and messed up individual, and try to fix it. The trouble was that personalities didn't work that way; Lee was never going to be what Sakura wanted, and for every time he tried to protect her by fighting against imagined slights, she would try to protect him from his own injuries by attempting to force him to stop fighting. Violently. It was cute, but between the two of them trying to protect one another, Lee and Sakura would probably leave a trail of dust a village wide. The sooner they gave up, the better.

"Sakura," she tried again, "Konoha doesn't make the rules this time. The chuunin exam is in hidden mist. Do you want to take the exam or not?"

Sakura looked sulky now. "Let me go and get Naruto then," she said. "I don't know if I can face those memories with strangers. At least let me take it with team seven—what's left of team seven."

Tsunade raised three fingers. "One," she said, ticking down the thumb. "Two." The pointer. She scrutinized the remaining digit.

Sakura whitened.

"Akimichi Chouji recently asked my medical permission to take the exam," Tsunade said, lowering her hand, "and I have given it to him. Since Nara Shikamaru was promoted last year, that leaves an absense in their team. You and Ino are friends again now, aren't you?" She dropped the registration file in front of her recalcitrant student. "Isn't that convenient?" Tsunade attempted to force a smile through her frustration. It came out more like a grimace. Having gotten at least that far, though, she kept the teeth firmly clenched, let the expression really sink in there. If she opened that mouth, she might start chewing up the ledgers.

Sakura looked ready to sink behind the desk.

"Now sign," Tsunade forced through her teeth.

Really, there was nothing like a properly cowed apprentice.

oOOOOOOOOOOOOOOo

Hidden Mist was a few weeks' walk away for a normal man, but without the civilian diplomatic entourage that would have to accompany them for the finals, the ninjas could travel fairly light. Perhaps because of the international pressure on Konoha in the wake of Orochimaru's attack, Tsunade had sent any genin who was anyone out to assemble for the journey to the chuunin exam. There was practically a battalion of genin. Hinata, Shino, and Kiba were at full strength, Shino having been reassigned from field duty; but Neji still looked slightly emaciated, and Chouji was eating constantly. His pack was three times the size of anyone else's. No-one was certain whether Lee's training regimen was wildly successful or whether it was doing him more harm than good; certainly Tsunade's screaming carried even farther than usual when she did his check-ups. Ino and Sakura bickered happily. There were no genins younger than they, although there was one older team; a fact that had not escaped the new Hokage's notice. Sarutobi had done a wonderful job, true, but there was some force in the air around this year's students, something that made them exceptional. If she hadn't met Naruto, she would have looked at their roster and assumed that that factor had been Sasuke; always ahead of them all, always excelling, with that cold charisma of competence pulling them along behind him, pressuring them to excel. But she had seen the effect Naruto had on people—on herself, even—and although none of them had really been his friends, that infectious spirit had, perhaps, influenced all of them. Pushed them to new heights from under them, supporting them without their realization even as Sasuke inspired them from his cold height.

Neither boy would be travelling with their classmates to Hidden Mist. Tsunade wondered, for the first time, what that meant—what their absence would be for the rest. With Sasuke's departure, would they lose heart, no longer blind to the vagaries of high ambition and the chasing of shadows? Without Naruto's energy, would they have the inspiration to overcome? Would Jiraiya be able to fix the boy himself?

She would have to leave it to him. Naruto was currently not under her auspices as Hokage. Only these were hers; and now she had to set them off.

Tsunade nodded once, curtly; and Shizune sent the jounins in. Asuma and Kurenai looked as insouciant as ever; Gai, however, stood at attention.

Tsunade surveyed the room. Everything looked ready; all that remained was to give the order for departure. "Any q—"

"Hokage-sama! It has come to my attention that my rival, the too-cool Hatake Kakashi, is not accompanying his kawaii student on this mission!"

Tsunade sighed. "Gai... for the last time, Haruno Sakura is currently my student. MINE."

"Hokage-sama! Surely Kakashi..."

"Kakashi failed," she snapped. All the eyes were suddenly on her; Gai looked like she had slapped him. "Team seven was disbanded," she went on, stammering under the sudden pressure. "As I expected, Kakashi failed to adequately train his students. He will not be training another genin team."

"H- hokage-sam—"

"Count yourself lucky, Maitoh Gai, that Rock Lee recovered from the forbidden technique he was taught by his instructor."

Gai blanched. That got their attention, thought Tsunade, inwardly cringing. May as well hammer it for what it's worth. "The three of you are all I can send to Mist under the treaty for the purposes of the examination," she said. "What's more, you are certainly all I can spare. Kakashi's not disgraced, merely otherwise assigned. I'm sure you all remember the events of last year's exam." General eye shifting. "That I can send this many jounin is a concession against Orochimaru's particular grudge versus Konoha. I know you want to protect your students—" glaring at Gai—"but please make sure that you do so only as it fails to interfere with the exam, and with Mist's own security. We don't want another embarrasment for Konoha, and we don't want to risk being seen as aggressors. Got it?"

"Hai!"

Tsunade allowed a smile to twinge the corner of her lip. "Guard your charges well, jounin. Move out!"

Three shadows down the hallway; then fifteen shadows away into the forest around Konoha, away.


	2. En route

Ino-Saku-Chou: 2

Shikamaru was not the type to be uncomfortable due to boredom. He enjoyed boredom. It was a natural state; boredom meant that everything was right with the world, the clouds in their place, nothing to trouble him. Except when it didn't mean that. When it meant that his team was travelling to the chuunin exam in Hidden Mist, and he was not. When it meant that his best friend was pushing himself to what was potentially a dangerous overexertion.

Shikamaru crossed his eyes, focussing on the silkworm that was making its way steadily up his nose. He never bothered to brush them off. He knew he shouldn't be worrying about them; there were three jounin with them, for the love of— but Sakura, with the other two? Sakura? What sort of team was that—Ino-Saku-Chou.

He huffed, uncharacteristically, blowing the worm up over his head. He never would have worried, before his father had given him that lecture on responsibility. Now he was thick with worrying. Even when he didn't want to, he was thinking about how he would command this squad, that squad—how he could be that one commander who brought the mission off better than it could otherwise have gone. It was getting to the point where he found himself wishing that he were leading all of them. It was like wearing itchy underwear; nothing was accomplished by it except that he kept twitching all the time. Shikamaru hated responsibility. Unfortunately, it seemed to want to be his friend. It snuck up on him at night and cuddled up, keeping him from sleep. It wouldn't leave him alone. It kept him from being properly bored.

Lying on the grass, pretending he could watch the cloudless sky, Shikamaru wondered how his friends were doing.

oOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOo

"I think she hates us," Ino remarked. Chouji didn't answer her; it took a lot of concentration to jump branch to branch at high speed while eating ranch flavor chips.

"We're supposed to be on the same team. Hell, we're supposed to be best friends." She pfffed her breath. "You'd think she was on their team. You'd think Sasuke never existed, to look at them. I say let her join them and good riddance, you know? We can make it on our own. It's not like Shikamaru pulled his weight in the last one, you know. I practically had to drag him through the forest by his ear." She tapped the branch with her foot, making an especially energetic leap. Chouji followed her trajectory with his eyes. "Well, answer me Chouji! Isn't she just the most—the most contrary girl you ever saw?"

Chouji didn't answer. He figured it was for the best.

Further forward, two green figures leaped—with an enthusiastic haphazardness—through the trees; the smaller one behind, dogging the bigger one's heels. A pink figure, with much more refined motions, was panting in her attempt to keep up with them.

"Gai sensei! If I don't catch up by the time I count 100, then I have to jump upside down for the next 250 trees!"

"Right! It's a promise!" Gai spurted ahead.

"Lee!" Sakura gasped. "You know you always hit your head when you jump upside down!"

This merited the first response she'd had since the morning. Rock Lee turned.

"But Sakura," he said, not slowing, "If I bump into a branch, then I'll just have to start the count over."

"Don't be ridiculous," she snapped. "And look where you're going, I don't want to have to bandage you up."

"You should try it too, Sakura-san-- it's good practice! Number One teacher Gai-sensei's method for success! Assu—"

"Lee!"

With a rather hollow sounding crack, the side of Lee's turned head slammed into a thick branch.

Neji was fastest; he caught Lee just as Sakura reached him, and the tips of her fingers, concentrated with chakra in a subconscious attempt to reach Lee with more than her physical hands, brushed the side of Neji's face. The ridges of the active Byakugan caught her by surprise, and she recoiled the hand, earning a nasty—and somewhat surprised—glare from Neji. _Was he watching his teammate so closely?_

She caught the branch and dropped to the ground behind him as Tenten called the halt. The others began gathering. The chakra was still ready at her fingertips; hand shaking, she held it over Lee's head, feeling for the bump. The subcutaneous layer was bleeding, as expected; but below that, was anything—

Lee sat up like a shot, his head cracking her a sharp blow on the chin. She sat back, wincing and rubbing it. Lee looked around wildly, trying to take in all his surroundings in one big gulp. It didn't take long for him to fixate on her; pulling himself to a crouch, he gripped her shoulder.

"Sakura-san! What happened? You're in pain! Is it an attack?"

"I think he's going to be fine," she announced to the crowd.

"You hit your head on a tree, you fool," Neji said. He was looking the other direction, though, eyes still tightly focused.

"Sakura-san." Lee was still looking at her, intense. "I'm glad you're all right." He smiled.

Sakura put her head in her hand. It sometimes seemed as if Lee had been put on the world to torment her. If he had to be nice, why did he have to be so stupid? And if he had to be such an idiot, why did he have to be so damn nice? Every fiber wanted to rip into him for endangering himself with no good reason; every fiber wanted to melt into the comfortable protection he offered. And it was no idiot's promise; Lee really meant it. He honestly believed that Sakura was liable to be attacked at every moment, even when they were in Konoha; and he was prepared to unleash every technique he had on her behalf. No small promise, coming from Lee. Protecting her was a serious business; and that made it all the more horribly, guiltily hilarious.

So she said, "It's fine, Lee. But..." she bit her tongue, whispered: "We've been on three dates already. Can't you just call me 'Sakura'?"

Lee was looking away already, frowning. "But where's Gai-sensei?"

At this, Asuma and Kurenai exchanged a guilty look, and Neji began to slowly smile.

"Ah, well," Asuma said at last, "He seemed to be enjoying it, so who was I to stop him?"

Neji blinked the byakugan away. "Yep. Still running."

oOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOo

Nobody complained when they made camp a little early that night; Hidden Mist was becoming a real place, not just a destination, and taking their cue from their jounin escorts, the genin were restless. It had been Sand that had attacked Konoha; but Mist was a frightening place, known for its brutality in the training of students, and for the strange, hardened warriors that training produced; as likely to be cold-blooded in fact as they were in spirit. There was no reason to approach in a hurry.

Gai found his way back to the camp as they were setting up, with the decency to look a little sheepish. The genin were stretching, taking last minute inventory; preparing themselves for the upcoming exam. Ino was busily looking over written notes. Chouji was "watching clouds", with his eyes shut. Sakura, however, was too busy stealing glances at Neji to concentrate on anything else.

Not that there was really such a thing as stealing glances at a Byakugan user. He had been using the technique intermittently ever since she'd first noticed it—and for how long before she had? The direction of his gaze was not informative; Sakura had studied the Byakugan, but its finer points were guarded by the Hyuuga clan. There was no way to tell where he was looking, but she was reasonably sure he knew she was watching him—and simply didn't esteem her highly enough to bother to do anything about it.

She was ready to give up when Kiba suddenly sat stock up from where he'd been feeding Akamaru; sniffed the air, then took off at a run, laughing.

"Visitors," Neji announced, at the curious glance Gai was giving him.

"Who is it, then?" Asuma said, chewing his cigarette.

"I was wondering when you were going to join us," Neji said in the direction of a dark glade, "Gaara of the Desert."

Sakura felt a chill go down her spine.

Next up: the exam begins.


	3. An Old Enemy

a/n: sorry for delay. Expect more delay. I am in the process of moving.

--Kettricken

Chapter 3

Gaara of the Desert. Gaara of the Desert.

Sakura felt the blood rushing in her ears, blanketing the noise of the campfire like sand. The world gone up in sand. She was against the tree again, a great weight crushing all the bones in her body. She could feel the bark grinding into the backs of her arms, her legs sweating— Sasuke, save—Naruto, save--

"Sakura!"

She turned, and nearly bumped her head into Ino's; her friend's pale face was inches from hers, and Chouji was just behind her, munching on chips.

"You really zoned out, there," Ino said, putting a hand on her arm. "Gaara still gets to you that much?"

Sakura closed her eyes. "I'm all right," she said; resolving that, when she opened them again, it would be with the steely glare she was learning from Tsunade. Attitude was all; she needed to be able to summon hers even when it wasn't crux time. She would look at Gaara.

"Do you want me to get you some hot tea?" Ino was asking. Sakura shook her head; then looked across the campfire. Gaara stood flanked by his siblings, inscrutable as ever, beside the treeon the other side of the clearing. Asuma and Kurenai seemed to be watching him surreptitiously, but Rock Lee was practically fawning at him like a puppy dog, providing 90 of the conversation to Gaara's 10. Kiba and Kankurou were grinning fiendishly at one another, but the dynamic was clear, there, too, Sakura noticed: she was no expert in canine behavior, but Kiba didn't need to roll over and show his belly to acknowledge Kankurou's dominance. Temari, for her part, stood over Gaara, as if to protect him.

"It's like we forgot," Sakura whispered. "They tried to kill us, and it's like we forgot all about it." Then thought: even if there is no real danger, I was terrified, and there was no-one to protect me. Lee didn't stay to protect me.

"Don't worry, Sakura—look, Hinata's scared too," Chouji offered.

Sakura raised an eyebrow. Being frightened by the same things that scared Hinata wasn't a big ego boost. At that rate, she'd be jumping at largeish mosquitos.

Ino handed her tea, and Sakura took it, gratefully. "Asuma says they're going to share our camp for the night," Ino said. "Just what I always wanted. Two freaks and a skank."

"I think she's pretty," Chouji offered, glancing at Temari.

"Forget it," Ino glared at him. "You're not her type."

"I know, I—"

"But they're technically our allies, I guess," Ino sighed dramatically, "what do you call someone who saves your ass right after kicking it? I don't know... there's ninja politics for you, right?" she bitterly sipped her own tea. "Bunch of bullies, anyway... I'd like to see them fail, after what they did to Sakura."

Sakura turned in surprise, to see Chouji nodding along, as if preparing to roll over Gaara at Ino's word. The two of them hadn't seen what she'd seen—even more, what she hadn't—there was no reason for them to instinctively take the proper precautions, the way she did. The way her body reacted like a frightened small animal when he was close."That's all right ," she said hastily. "If he makes me uncomfortable, it's my concern. I can just... keep my distance." Fight or flight? She had thought she had answered that question. A kunoichi fights.

"Sure, Sakura," Chouji mumbled through a mouthful of chips. "If that's what you want. They're creepy, anyway."

Ino scowled. "Ch... I just want to stand up for my friend, you know."

Sakura leaned back. The tea was surprisingly warming; Lee might have abandoned her, but Ino and Chouji, her teammates, had fallen in around her. There was comfort in it. With Sasuke and Naruto, it was always the two of them, and Sakura as the afterthought. Here, in the team where she really was the afterthought, the patched-in replacement member, she felt more a part than she ever had with the others. Maybe because they were all as second-string as she was, she thought ruefully.

Through the campfire, Gaara's ringed eye caught hers; then looked away. Never blinking.

oooooOOOOOOOOOOOOooooo

Through the campfire, Gaara's eye catches the pink-haired girl's. Quickly, he turns it away again; It is rumbling inside him, purring a lullabye composed for escaped prey. He is stronger than Shukaku now. Every night when he goes to sleep, he sets a part of himself on guard to remind it; but that is no reason to give it an opening, an emotion. A weakness. Gaara sleeps with one eye open now. But Gaara sleeps.

Lee is telling him about the efforts to rebuild the stadium in Konoha. Gaara watches him and listens; mostly, though, he is trying to figure out what it would feel like to have one's limbs crushed. He has had no frame of reference; there is no peer for him. He is not human the way the others are. Not even Naruto, although Naruto woke him up. Now he continually reminds himself that others are human, in unpleasant and excruciating ways. It is the syllogism that keeps Shukaku quiet: humans are weaker than Gaara, but protecting one another, stronger. He is weaker than Shukaku, but by protecting humans—the demon rumbles within. Lee is a protected one, now. The feeling is so strong, so relieving, that it is almost nauseating. Yes. Gaara decides; he will find the girl and tell her that she is protected. Then he will gain a whole month of nights. The more he protects, the more he is free to be Gaara. Naruto was lucky to understand this from the start.

Temari, thinking he isn't listening, says to Kankurou: this chuunin exam may be hard for him. What if It wakes up again?

(Shukaku rolls inside him.)

Kankurou stretches his lips—the closest he ever comes to a smile. He says: if it does, we protect him. Let's just get through this as quickly as we can.

Gaara sometimes wonders if his heart is growing. There is a pain in his chest. Once, he might have known what to call it. It all got confused, for a while. He will wrap these thoughts through the quiet lulls in conversation and wear at them in his mind, distill them to clear truths until they shine through his black-rimmed eyes.

oooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooo

Three officials from the Hidden Mist were waiting for them by the dock that morning. The woman was young, blindfolded, lips blue as a corpse; the taller man broad shouldered, with a heaving neck. The smallest man's eyes were pupilless, like a Hyuuga's, but more milky blue, as an old dog's might be after it has gone blind. This man stepped forward, surveying them; looked down at a paper in his hand.

Sakura fidgeted in the line; the morning was cold and foggy. Ino was beside her, but the far side of Chouji was looking a little fuzzy. She wondered if Hidden Mist was always so literalistic; or, just maybe, if she was stewing in a bunch of vaporized Water Bunshin...

Sakura attempted to breathe without breathing any of the mist.

"What is this, four—" the dog-blind man ticked off his list—"Yes, four previous entrants from Konoha? And not a single new entry? ...and what is this, a two-woman team?" The corner of his lip twitched. Sakura could swear he was staring at her, although it was impossible to be sure; she averted her eye. "Just what have you been up to, Konoha?"

"Just a little scuffle with some Sands," Asuma drawled. For the first time, Sakura was aware of his solid presence behind her team; his hand hovering over her shoulder. She straightened her gaze. "Take our names and let us in, right?"

The official looked away without responding. "And the infamous Three from Sand," he said, "...again." He fixed his stare on them, clearly expecting a response; none was forthcoming. After a few minutes of Gaara's blank expression, the official turned away, shrugging. "I'll be the examiner for the first test," he said. "All our local entrants are waiting on the island. You're late. Welcome to the Bloody Mist."


	4. The Exam Begins! First Test!

chapter 4

Hi hi, sorry for the delay. But here's a double-long Special Chapter: The Exam Begins! First Test!

--Chapter Four--

The thick fog cleared as they reached port on the island that housed the hidden village of Mist. There was no dock; only a sea of poles rising out of the water like the remains of enormous wharf. Some poles were tipped in red paint, others faded blue and green. The examiner tied the boat to the farthest pole, and stepped nimbly onto the pole, balancing on the small surface. With no pause, he leapt from it as securely as a Konoha ninja leaps from branch to branch, charting a zigzag course from poles to clifftop.

"That's just silly," Sakura said into the silence of his wake; then blushed as she felt her teammates' gazes. She hadn't realized she was about to speak out loud. She backpedalled. "It's only that... with an area that small, you need to concentrate chakra in your feet to go across it. Why go to the effort to make a path like that? You may as well anchor the boat and walk across the water."

Asuma was following the Mist jounin with his eyes. "The poles mark out a grid," he said, never turning. "A real Mist ninja will have memorized the pattern. There may only be one safe path."

Ino blanched. "They must not get invaded much," she said.

"Not necessarily." Asuma took a drag on his cigarette. "Hostile jounin might be hit with one of the charges if they didn't know about them, it's true. But no matter; these are well known. They were erected by the village to keep final-year academy students _in_." He turned, and snorted tobacco smoke. "Sakura, you should know what I'm talking about."

"Y-yes," Sakura managed to say, as Ino and Chouji stared her down. Even Kurenai's team was watching, now. "When we met Zabuza, he told us—the academy students fight for the privilege to become genins, in Hidden Mist. It's a fight to the death."

"They don't let them leave?" Ino shook her head in disgust.

Sakura stared nervously down at the water. The seas seemed to be curdling around the prow of the small boat, eager. Her own reflection leered up at her from the surface.

"I wouldn't leave," Kiba said, and a grin stretched nearly ear to ear. Akamaru barked.

"Me neither!" added Chouji, not to be outdone.

Ino raised her eyebrow at Sakura. "Boys."

"All right, enough. " Asuma jumped nimbly up onto the first pole. "Just follow me. Kurenai, you?" With a flick of his head toward the path.

Kurenai nodded assurance.

"They lay sea mines for their own students?" Ino was still scowling. "What kind of people are these guys? Jeez..."

At the top of the cliff, the mist cleared suddenly, revealing a crowd of thirty genins. Mist, Grass, Sand; even three each from Stone and Rain. All were silent under the examiners' grin; Sakura and the others from Konoha edged toward the rest, keeping a slight distance.

The man with the blind dog eyes grinned as the last of them, Kiba, reached the summit. Kiba was yammering away at Akamaru, but trailed off abruptly at the examiner's grimace. His teeth were pointed, like an animal's.

"Well," he said, as Kiba shuffled into the crowd, "Let's begin."

A hand raised above the crowd.

The examiner's grin faded into a sneer. "Yes?" he said.

"Sir! We haven't registered yet!" Lee piped into the still, damp air.

Sakura slapped a hand to her forehead.

The corners of the examiner's mouth twitched. "Young man," he drawled, "you seem to be under the misapprehension that I care who you are. If you survive the first two tasks, I am sure someone will have apprised me as to your name."

His words hit the crowd like a change in wind; low murmurs began rising from the gathered genin. Sakura gripped her arms about herself. Only the Mist genin—and the three Sands, she noted without surprise—were unmoved.

"See here," Asuma said, raising his voice over the muttering crowd. "This may not be my home, but these children are under my charge..."

"Children?" the examiner interrupted, with a sneer. "You brought children here? Your mistake, Konoha. I'm fairly certain this is intended to be a test for shinobi. Not children."

The Mist genin were beginning to jeer now. Sakura edged closer to Ino, then looked up as she felt warmth against her back. Lee was behind her, thick eyebrows firmly set.

"That was probably a mistake," Chouji commented under his breath.

"Jounin, if you would please come this way?" The blindfolded woman , voice cold as marble, raised an arm, indicating a path through the trees. "We must have a fair examination."

"Konoha had their turn," said the dog-eyed man, unmoving. "It is ours now. You will get your chance again. Perhaps you should have let your children wait, so they could play at chuunin exam in their own sandboxes?"

Asuma dropped his cigarette and ground it into the muck, but said nothing. Kurenai took his arm.

Gai was scowling. "We'll see who the children are, and who's a man," he said. "My Lee will show them what a man is. Right, Lee?"

"Yosh!"

"All right, Gai," Asuma clapped him on the back. "Let Lee show them himself, right? We won't get in the way."

As the jounin left the clearing, Sakura fixed her eyes on the glowing ember of Asuma's cigarette butt, trying not to tremble. Not even on missions had she felt so chilled without hearing what she was to face; and that in the full light of day. Only the examiner remained among the genin, and the grin on his face was more menacing than ever.

"I don't care who you are," he reiterated. "I don't care if you are combat specialists, illusion specialists, assassins, women, even little Konoha children." The corner of his lip twitched. "The dead do not matter to me. And, little genin, you are dead."

Sakura felt Ino stiffen beside her; Lee go into a crouch. Her own senses were wire-sharp. This was not a chuunin exam, then. This was a trap. No wonder her nerves had been screaming at her—no wonder—Asuma and Kurenai! They—

"Dead, until you have passed through the first two examinations. Then you will have earned the right to be alive to me."

Sakura's heart throbbed into life in her chest. Not a trap, then. Just the examiner scaring them. No need to tremble as she was. Asuma's cigarette butt had gone out.

The examiner was holding up a bit of scroll; as Sakura regained enough control of her breath to look forward again, he rolled it away.

"What you have just seen is a map of the traps and mines laid in Frogsmere at our southern border," he said, tapping the scroll into his vest. "That is the proving ground for our second examination, the team practical."

"Could you hold that up again, sir?" It was a Grass genin this time, standing at trembling attention, who withered under the examiner's glare. "I... I m-m-mi..."

"A ninja must be alert in the face of danger!" the examiner snapped; then his face grew mild again. "But this is only the first examination. I'll give you a second chance. In fact, why don't I give all of you a second chance?" He reached into his vest.

"This is pointless showmanship," whispered a voice—Shino's. "Why does he play this game?"

Sakura turned back to the examiner, and the quaking Grass genin in front of him, with new eyes. A show to scare them... was that the exam?

The map scroll was still wound. "I am going to place this map on a table," he said, tapping it against his arm, "in the small house in the next clearing. There are no windows. I will wait inside with it for the next hour. Those of you who would like to see the map are welcome to try to copy it—or steal it, if you must be so heavy-handed; but for every time you are caught trying, your team will be docked one point. For every member disabled while caught in the act, your team will be docked two points. You start at five points per team. My two fellow examiners will be watching you from outside the hut to ensure that you don't collaborate with other teams from your villages. We begin in one half hour, when the bell rings; please assure that you have all your materials and strategies prepared by then. The bell will ring again at the end of the appointed time."

Sakura blinked. "It's the same as last year's," she said.

"What do you mean? Last time was a written!" Chouji eyed the bottom of a bag of snacks. Kurenai's and Gai's teams had fanned away, and the others were dispersing.

"I mean, it's a test of our information-gathering abilities," she said. "Last time it was disguised as a written; this time, it's overt. I guess there are only so many things to test for..." But her stomach was falling. The same skills, but there was no second option this year; she gained nothing for all the studying she had done.

"We're in trouble," she and Ino said at the same time; turned to face one another, then turned back again. Chouji had gone crosseyed.

"Chouji's no good with this sort of thing," Ino said, "And Sakura-chan, no offense..."

"I know, " Sakura crossed her arms. "Ino, you're really our only member with infiltration skills. But, won't he notice a mind replacement? Even if you could get line of sight to perform it?"

Chouji was frowning. "We start at six points, right?" He began counting on his fingers, laboriously. "And there's a deduction for getting caught, but... if we don't do anything, we don't subtract at all. So we pass!"

"But we don't have the map, dolt," Ino rolled her eyes. "And we get dead in the marshland. Or, stay 'dead', whatever..."

"Kiba's team can get it easily, through Byakugan or Shino's insects," Sakura furrowed her brow. "And Neji, obviously. If only I could just _look_ at it for a while..."

"I could blast a hole in the wall," Chouji offered.

"Takh..." Ino rolled her eyes again. "How obvious can you get? Are you trying to get us eliminated?"

"No, no!" Sakura put her hand to her mouth. "You're forgetting. It's deductions for getting caught, not elimination for getting caught."

"So why not get caught big," Chouji nodded, then grinned.

Sakura shook her head, smiling. That's what you got for hanging out too much for geniuses; a little bit had to stick.

oooooOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooo

The clearing was only a dozen meters across, but painfully barren; the hut was tiny, merely a small outpost station, and entirely exposed. A difficult proposition indeed. Lurking several meters into the forest with her team, Sakura wished that the mist had followed them onto its eponymous terrain. She had run quietly up the trunk of a small pine, but there was no discernable movement; either the Mist jounin were nowhere nearby at the moment, or so skilled that it would make no difference what they did.

Sakura glanced at Ino, who gave the preapproved sign, although sweat was dripping across her face; it would be close enough. Only just, but close enough. Chouji would have to take a long run at the hut from their position; Sakura would take position to watch their backs, and get out if necessary. They could not afford three captures.

She nodded, preparing to gain distance and cover, but a hand gesture from Ino stopped her. A light fog was drifting across from the west, slowly, but almost purposively.

Sakura stood poised to run, considering. Should they rethink the operation, have Chouji approach under cover from the mist? Would it be worth the risk of being caught on the way to the new staging ground?

As she thought, there was a bright flash from the leading edge of the mist; in its wake, the day was as bright as before, and a very young Mist genin crouched in the spot where the fog had been, clutching a bleeding shoulder. Wire glinted across the clearing, catching him by the foot; he cried out as he was jerked down and away. Sakura heard the bone of his shoulder dislocate as he hit the bare rock, and grit her teeth in sympathy. Ino was sitting ramrod straight. Chouji scowled, and there was a fierceness there that Sakura rarely saw in his face; the still slightly lean cant of his jaw accentuated it. Everything about him said: now.

Sakura nodded assent, leaping silently into the bushes. Now, while one of the jounin was occupied; never mind the lack of consideration for the limbs of the examinees. This was hidden Mist. They would get what they had come for. Before she had gained ten meters, Chouji roared through the clearing, cutting a sightline through the foliage with his passing. There, he was on the rock, he was spinning traps in his wake—the wire was flashing out for him, but he was barrelling through—

No! Sakura clutched the branch she leaned against. Chouji was bearing to the side, only slightly, but dangerously. He was going to hit to the side of what they had planned; it would be out of the sightline. Now she could see Ino, too, ruining her own cover by shifting position, trying to adjust. It was too late. There was no back-up plan. Chouji rammed into the building, falling out of the doubleweight technique; there was a curse from the hut—she couldn't see! She wanted so badly to see it—had he caught them? --and Ino went limp.

The blindfold woman was on the hut in a flash, and she heard Chouji cry out sharply, then nothing. Ino was still limp, collapsed—that was a good thing, wasn't it? Sakura's muscles strained to help her, but she wouldn't, not until the last minute. Ino had to get a good look. Theycould not afford to lose the points of Sakura's own capture. Just one moment more...

Ino abruptly coughed, then shuddered. Sakura's body needed no further stimulus. She was down, reaching down to sling her friend's body expertly over her own shoulders, and racing away. Had they been seen?

"Paper," Ino gasped. "Quick. My memory... if I don't..."

Sakura stopped, pulling her kunai front to guard them, and set Ino down. Not waiting for Sakura to fish out the scroll she had set aside, Ino immediately began to trace figures in the soil, her hand trembling. Sakura stared at them, memorizing. There was a noise along the streambanks...

Sakura jumped into cover and pulled the leaves around her as the third Mist Jounin materialized from the stream. He stepped quickly forward to knock the still weakened Ino a blow to the solar plexus.

"Disabled," he said . "Should have gone on to the safe zone." He pulled himself up, and surreptitiously nudged Ino's prostate form with his toe, giving only a cursory glance at the surroundings. Sakura's throat clenched hard—but he only wiped the half-finished map out of the dust, and set off at a run along the top of the stream. His feet made no splashes against the water's surface.

When her hands would obey her again, Sakura finished pulling the blank scroll from her pack, quickly scribbling down what she could remember of the map. As she wrote, the bell began to ring again; she reached the end of what she could remember of what Ino had drawn, then shook Ino's shoulder. This having no effect, she summoned her concentration and applied a focused stream of chakra to her friend's head—carefully—Ino's eyes flickered.

Sakura thrust the paper at her. "We have to hurry back. Anything else? Is that all?"

Ino shook her head, groggy. "That's all I had time for. The angle was bad, I couldn't get him right away—and part of the map was blocked by the debris from Chouji." She pulled herself to a crouch. "Sorry."

Sakura bit off a curse; then helped Ino up. "Back to the safe zone," she said. "At least we passed for now."

As they shuffled back to the cliffs where they had first alit, ragtag bunches of genin filtered in through the trees, many already smudged and exhausted, others fresh as they had never been. Sakura saw Kurenai's team, Kiba looking as smug as if he and Akamaru had just felled an Akatsuki; Gai's team had made it intact, too, and the three Sands. The team from Rain were gone.

"I'll take that," a whisper spoke at her ear; before Sakura had time to turn, the blank-eyed examiner had whisked away the scroll, placing it in a pile with several others.

"Sakura-san! Sakura-san!" This was Lee, running up to her, his face worried. "Did you do all right?"

She managed a quick reassuring smile—even the Reassuring Guy thumbs-up—before the examiner shoved Lee back toward his teammates. He hadn't protected her today; in this chuunin exam, it occurred to her, it was up to her own team to protect her. Let Lee worry about himself, not waste it on her. He wouldn't be able to worry about her in the next test, anyway. Sakura glanced at Ino, now recovered, but rubbing her bruised stomach region. Chouji wasn't even there. These, then-- were they truly the limit of what she had to protect her?

"All right then," the examiner tapped the pile of maps. "One last choice, for those of you who remain. If you would like, you may withdraw from our examination at this point, and retake it under friendlier conditions." He grinned. "Or take your own map—and your own chances—into Frogmere swamp with you tomorrow morning. More about the second test I will not say."

Sakura frowned worriedly at the stacked scrolls. Their own half-completed, third-hand map... was it worth continuing? A vision of Sasuke, crying in anguish as the snake bit down—of herself beaten and fading at the hands of the Sound-nin—washed over her. She felt like laughing, suddenly, and had no idea why.

One of the Grass teams stood forward—they looked very young—and walked away from the clearing. The examiner's lip twitched.

"Sakura..." Ino whispered. "We don't even know what shape Chouji's in. Maybe we should..."

"No," Sakura hissed back, biting off the visions in her own mind. Her inner laughter played at the corners of her mouth now; Ino pouted, confused. "Ino, think of it... no Orochimaru, no Sound-nin—it's like Shino said. A bit of showmanship, right? This year can't possibly anything like as bad as last year!"

"Ladies?" the examiner cut in on her. "A whispered conference? A lack of nerves, perhaps?"

"Excuse me, sir," Ino said, pulling herself straight. "No, sir. We'll be continuing tomorrow."

The examiner held up the paper, Sakura's scrawled crosses and circles strewn across it wily-nilly. "With this?" he raised an eyebrow. A few genins snickered. "Your funeral, kunoichi."

Sakura looked at her friend and smiled. Lee was cheering behind them.

"You have until tomorrow morning to reconsider," The examiner said, returning the scroll to the pile. "You'll get your maps back then. Those who have teammates in the infirmary, take the second left fork along the high trail there. I must say, meeting all of you has been the most dubious of pleasures."

As he turned away from them, Lee's voice piped up once again. "Sir! Where are the team leaders staying?"

"You again?" The examiner frowned. "It's none of your concern."

"We aren't going to meet with them?" It was Kiba who spoke this time.

"What kind of examination lets the students crib answers from the teachers?" The examiner sneered. "I'm done with the lot of you. Eat and sleep as you see fit. Town is to the right fork of the high path. Or sleep with the beasts for all I care." With that, he flung his hands wide, and droplets flew from his fingertips—droplets that carried his fingertips with them, and his arms, his whole form dissolving into a fine mist that receded into nothing.

"That must be the jutsu we saw the kid trying earlier," Ino whispered. "I wonder if this man is his team leader?"

Poor kid, thought Sakura. She looked down, trying to see if she could find the remains of Asuma's cigarette butt; but the dirt of the clearing had been swept clean.

NEXT CHAPTER: The Infirmary. A message is sent to Godaime Hokage. The Second Examination Begins.


End file.
